News The Bulldogs are freed of Barrett’s ‘shackles’... key roster calls could finally wake NRL’s sleeping giant

[CrittaMagic69]

You know your sh!t, summed up to perfection.
Flanno not engaging the line hurts us most although he’s digging deeper into the line than a few months ago - he’s also taking on the line more. What I don’t understand with him is he obviously doesn’t like the contact with ball in hand yet puts his body in front of a lot of heavy traffic, big boppers are running at him all day. Maybe it’s the fear of getting hit late without protection? I don’t know.

What has been working well for us close to the line are blind side plays, short kicks for the Fox and JMK show and go - But, we need to find easier points through our block play sets and that can only happen if Flanno is passing as he’s getting tackled not 2-3 meters away from the defender, allows them to slide and cover.

Good timing digging this comment up, all these issues were on display this Friday haha.

Flanagan isn't alone in this, Burton is also really poor at playing into the line and really struggles when he's in that ball playing role. Difference with Burton is that he can actually run and step and like you mentioned he plays blindsides well and has that kick in behind that can create opportunities.

I do think if Flanagan does a better job it makes everyone else's job easier but overall I'd say it's more of a team issue. Trent absolutely fucked us and structure wise we're just missing the mark in far too many areas because of it, once we finally address that I think their will be improvements across the board. Key recruits like Kikau and Mahoney will also be massive helps as they thrive in areas we struggle with and hopefully we add a few more props. Fitness is also another massive issue.

 

[D.O.W.]

Good timing digging this comment up, all these issues were on display this Friday haha.

Flanagan isn't alone in this, Burton is also really poor at playing into the line and really struggles when he's in that ball playing role. Difference with Burton is that he can actually run and step and like you mentioned he plays blindsides well and has that kick in behind that can create opportunities.

I do think if Flanagan does a better job it makes everyone else's job easier but overall I'd say it's more of a team issue. Trent absolutely fucked us and structure wise we're just missing the mark in far too many areas because of it, once we finally address that I think their will be improvements across the board. Key recruits like Kikau and Mahoney will also be massive helps as they thrive in areas we struggle with and hopefully we add a few more props. Fitness is also another massive issue.

Spot on. Agree on our Fitness, we struggled with it this season - it really showed when Trent was in charge and Ferris managed the teams conditioning, appeared to improve week-on-week after their departure.

One mistake Ciraldo can’t make is hiring his mates into key roles, he needs people who are best in field in contributing to the teams success.